The need for computer security long ago passed from a minor annoyance to something that could affect our personal and financial safety. Just as disasters, crime, and tales of tragedy tend to dominate the news, stories of information security failures never fail to grab the headlines. When it’s a story with the potential to smear a media darling like Apple, you can bet the article will be right up there next to the latest celebrity embarrassment. But with a little consideration of these five tips, you can evaluate the reality level of any given security story.

via TidBITS Safe Computing: Five Tips for Reading Mac Security Stories.

Read my article from last week for information on what to do to. Additionally, F-Secure notes that “Downadup disables Automatic Updates, so updated versions of MSRT [ed: links for this are contained in last week's article] will need to be downloaded manually, it will not be automatically installed on infected machines.”

Microsoft recommends that Windows users install an update provided in late October and follow that up by running the latest version of their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) which was updated this January in response to the Downadup worm. There is another cure, however.

Update: According to Panda Security, the Downadup outbreak is now an epidemic. Additionally, F-Secure notes that “Downadup disables Automatic Updates, so updated versions of MSRT will need to be downloaded manually, it will not be automatically installed on infected machines.”

Frankly, a lot could happen if you lost it. So, let’s look at the features the iPhone provides you to prevent any of your data getting into the wrong hands. You can set the iPhone to auto-lock in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes or never. This basically turns the iPhone’s screen off and prevents you from accidentally making calls or doing anything else. I’ve got mine set to 2 minutes. This gives me plenty of time between actions (like reading a web page before scrolling) and is short enough to save some battery life due to the screen being off. Anyone can still pick up your phone and use it, though.

Settings for Auto-Lock and Passcode Lock are in the General settings

Another thing that will help protect you is to turn on the passcode lock. After turning this on you will have to enter a four digit code in order to be able to use the iPhone for anything other than answering calls, making emergency calls, or operating the iPod from the lock screen. There is a range of times you can set to require the passcode to unlock your phone from immediately up to four hours. I’ve got mine set to one hour so that I am not constantly entering the passcode to unlock my phone. After being locked for over an hour, I’ll have to enter the passcode to use it again. I feel this is an acceptable bargain between security and convenience for me, but you may wish to use a shorter period of time. If someone else were to pick up my phone within that hour and try to change this setting, they wouldn’t be able to do so unless they knew my passcode.

Passcode Lock settings including the Erase Data feature

An additional layer of security that I recommend everyone take is to also turn on the Erase Data feature within the Passcode Lock settings. Since someone could luck-out in trying to figure out your passcode by entering a variety of different four digit codes, this feature gives them (or you) 10 tries before it erases all of your data on it as a security precaution. Think of this as the iPhone’s equivalent to the ATM taking your card if you enter the wrong passcode too many times.

An additional setting is the ability to turn off SMS previews if you don’t want anyone to see any of the text messages you’ve received without first unlocking your phone.